"In fact, in Feelingstown, facts become insults: If facts debunk feelings, it is the facts that must lose." Ben Shapiro

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Life "Progress" Country - Portugal edition

Obamacare here we come.................

High

Armando Costa, 73, is waiting for an outpatient’s appointment in one of the
seemingly endless corridors of Hospital Santa Maria, a huge 1950s
building on the edge of Lisbon, teeming with medical staff, orderlies,
the sick and their families.The retired business manager could afford private care, but prefers crowded, noisy Santa Maria because of the quality of treatment on the national health service. As well as social security contributions,
patients typically pay a small amount.
“I’ll be charged a few euros today, but I’d be happy to pay more,” he
said.How much the Portuguese are prepared to pay for public health, education
and welfare services has become the focus of national debate after
warnings from Pedro Passos Coelho, the prime minister, that the
country’s economic future depends on root-and-branch reform of what the
state provides.

But redefining the state’s responsibilities is highly contentious for
many Portuguese, who see universal health care and education, free or
subsidised at the point of delivery, as fundamental achievements of the
1974 revolution that overthrew 48 years of dictatorship. The
government’s opponents fear it wants to destroy the welfare state.

The country has to choose between higher taxes or fewer state
services, Vítor Gaspar, finance minister, said. “There appears to be an
enormous divergence between what the Portuguese believe the state should
deliver and the amount of taxes they are prepared to pay,” he told
parliament recently.